The Gaussian multiple access wire-tap channel: wireless secrecy and cooperative jamming

Abstract: We consider the General Gaussian Multiple Access Wire-Tap Channel (GGMAC-WT). In this scenario, multiple users communicate with an intended receiver in the presence of an intelligent and informed eavesdropper. We define two suitable secrecy measures, termed individual and collective, to reflect the confidence in the system for this multi-access environment. We determine achievable rates such that secrecy to some pre-determined degree can be maintained, using Gaussian codebooks. We also find outer bounds for the case when the eavesdropper receives a degraded version of the intended receiver's signal. In the degraded case, Gaussian codewords are shown to achieve the sum capacity for collective constraints. In addition, a TDMA scheme is shown to also achieve sum capacity for both sets of constraints. Numerical results showing the new rate region are presented and compared with the capacity region of the Gaussian Multiple-Access Channel (GMAC) with no secrecy constraints. We then find the secrecy sum-rate maximizing power allocations for the transmitters, and show that a cooperative jamming scheme can be used to increase achievable rates in this scenario.